Grace Paley
Fall clean-up
Here’s the thing about my small folder of poems about death. Having more than one poem about death is like getting a bag of zucchini from your neighbor—you don’t know what to do with an overload. (I’m just realizing this very second that owning, not to mention labeling, a small folder of poems about death is […]
MoreLetting go, holding back
For My Daughter by Grace Paley I wanted to bring her a chalice or maybe a cup of love or cool water I wanted to sit beside her as she rested after the long day I wanted to adjure commend admonish saying don’t do that […]
MoreSpending my stash in the Big Apple
Last weekend I went on a spending spree in New York City. Unfortunately for the economy, it was a poem-elfing kind of spending spree. I hoard poems for future occasions the way some people keep money in special accounts for emergencies. I decided to “spend” my poems in our most literary of cities. Here’s […]
MoreNow and later: best wishes from Poem Elf
My nephew got married a few weeks ago in a joyful rumpus of a wedding followed by a mellower brunch the next day. I waited till the last minute to poem-elf the couple, and then I was disappointed I couldn’t get in their locked car to hide poems. But it worked out. In the absence […]
MoreLife in the city and fear of death
Fear by Grace Paley I am afraid of nature because of nature I am mortal – my children and my grandchildren are also mortal – I lived in the city for forty years in this way I escaped fear Like a character in an old TV sitcom who’s got an engagement ring in his […]
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